If you’ve been marketing through email for any length of time, you understand full well just how difficult it is to simply build a list. Once you have a list of people who actually want to receive your emails, the struggle doesn’t end; few of them are actually going to open those emails. Some may have a quality spam filter, like Everycloudtech spam filter, that puts your emails right into the junk mailbox. Others may simply not be engaged by the email the moment they lay eyes on it.
Here are five ways that you can actually improve the open rate for the emails that are part of your marketing campaign.
1. Focus on first impressions.
What are your recipients going to see first? If you don’t know, take a moment to open your basic email program. It could be Outlook, another app, or through a website, including MSN’s Hotmail accounts. Whatever it is, pay attention to the details.
What do you see first? You will see the sender and the subject line. Depending on the email server, the subject line could be truncated, which gives you fewer characters with which to grab attention. Make your subject line sell and you can modify the sender to make it easy for your recipient to see who the email is from.
The subject line should be powerful and avoid four key phrases or words, including “free, percent off, reminder, and help.”
2. Understand when to send these emails.
Timing isn’t always the most important factor, but it is key. If you send emails in the evening, but your target market won’t look at their emails until they get to work the next morning, it can get lost in hundreds or even thousands of other emails.
A good time to send marketing emails is around 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning or sometime after lunch.
3. Think about spam filter traps.
Spam filters look for keywords or designs. “Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”, all capital letters, poorly coded HTML, and more can lead your email right into the junk folder where it will sit until removed permanently.
4. Analyze data.
When you send email campaigns, look at which ones are most effective at being opened, read, and having your target market click the links (calls to action) included in the body of the email.
When you analyze the data you will see patterns beginning to emerge, especially with regard to the most effective types of emails, information they want, subject lines, and much more. Make adjustments to increase the chances all your emails will be opened by the majority of potential clients.
5. Fine-tune your sign up process.
When people sign up to be on your email marketing list, if they aren’t quite sure what it pertains to or your giveaway is generic, you could have a lot of people signing up who have no actual interest in the products or services you offer.
This is your opportunity to fine tune the sign-up process to focus only on those who could become prospective clients or customers of yours.
